Human
by Shahrezad1
Summary: Dr. Hopper is kidnapped to help with an experiment that he's partially responsible for. But the prisoner is more than a test subject, and he's going to need her help if they both want to get out of there alive. An AU one-shot. RedXCricket.


Human

By Shahrezad1

Summary: Dr. Hopper is kidnapped to help with an experiment that he's partially responsible for. But the prisoner is more than a test subject, and he's going to need her help if they both want to get out of there alive. An AU one-shot. RedXCricket.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. :) ABC/Disney does.

~/~/~

The canvas bag was ripped from his head, leaving him blinking in the sudden switch from darkness to brilliant, blinding light. Much like a scene from a movie, he sat at a square table in an otherwise empty room, hands still tied up and confusion and horror pumping through his veins.

What he was doing here and what they wanted with him were questions he wanted to ask, but wouldn't dare let them pass dry lips. Not after the beating that they'd promised him in that seemingly unassuming van he'd just _happened_ to walk by just hours(?) previous, on his way home from his charity clinic.

A woman stepped from the shadows into the light, smirk plying her blood-red lips as she knowingly answered questions unspoken, "I bet that you're wondering why you're here. Why innocent Doctor Archibald Hopper, altruism embodied, was picked up off of the street like some regular ol' hooligan. You're too kind to cause trouble, too smart to nose in on other people's business."

He didn't dare nod or shake his head or even respond, the viciousness in her eyes coiled like a snake ready to spring. But he didn't need to as a folder was thrown down upon the table, much like a challenge.

When the gentleman didn't move she motioned him on in mocking invitation, and with tied, shaking hands he awkwardly pulled back the cover's front page. Only to recoil.

"That's why."

The figure was a monstrosity, a mix of animal and human flesh. The end results of a Grad School science experiment gone wrong. He'd come up with the theory of mixing human organ DNA and animal DNA with the intent of making them stronger, fit for growing in tubes for medical purposes such as transplants and organ replacements. But his superiors on the project, Professors that he had trusted with his theory and his tests, had been corrupted by the concept of astronomical profit. They had given in to the demands of government testing in the effort to develop super-soldiers with traits reminiscent of animals.

The results had been disastrous, and as soon as he'd found out he'd run. Vowing to live the rest of his life in penance for the single, innocent mistake that he'd made. A mistake that had cost lives.

Yet here it was again, and with sinking sorrow the Doctor knew that he would never be able to truly run from his past.

"You planted a virus in the computer system before you slunk out like the insect you are," the strange woman continued, voice poised and almost conversational as she began walking around the table. But her long, crimson fingernails tapped the surface in sets of three at each corner. Except for the one that he was sitting against, and with a swallow of fear he wondered what she might do to him…in sets of three.

"Y-yes," he shakily answered, in a slight act of uncertain bravery, "to make sure that that m-monstrosity would never see the light of day again."

She pursed her lips as though his words actually mattered. Tapping a finger against them…in a set of three.

"Well," she began, almost holding her breath. Until a shrug brought forth a malicious grin, "you failed. Because you weren't the only one working on that project, now were you?"

At first confusion furrowed his brow, and he resisted the urge to push up his glasses with the edge of his clasped hands. Reminding his self that moving right now was a _very bad idea_. But even fear couldn't hold back memory for long, "V-Victor?" he whispered, hoarsely, "my lab assistant?"

Her smile was the kind that one might give a dog after having done a trick. Or that one might give an bug before smashing it beneath their heel, "yes. _Victor._ Victor Whale. But unfortunately a…_mishap_ befell him and until he's better—which may take a while—we'll have to resort to you. Because I'm on time constraints and, well, you just happen to be handily available."

Those were the last words the strange woman said before he was being lifted from his chair by faceless goons, their heads covered by metal masks covered in what could only be termed as four-inch long needles. And into the darkness they went, led down a path of horror to an end destination he was loath to guess at.

~/~/~

She didn't often get visitors. Well, altruistic visitors. The physical therapist whom escorted her to the training facility for exercise was kind, if efficient, and she might have even developed a friendship with the woman had their situations been any different.

Everyone else wanted something from her. Blood samples, tissue samples, hair. Questions prodded her brain just as surely as their needles did, filling her full of liquids that made her skin burn and her blood boil. She had scars to prove their ministrations and permanent slashes in her palms from when she'd fisted her hands in the effort not to scream. Days were marked one by one on her wrist just as surely as they were on the metal plate that was the base of her cage. For while they could take her prison away from her, putting her in another holding cell, they couldn't take away the marks on her wrist and thus her memory of time.

Knowing the negative intent of any 'guests' she might be privy to, her hackles were immediately set on edge as the door started opening, a series of electronic locks turning and twisting in a complicated display of wasted government money (whose government, she wondered?). Then she heard the stilettos, those blasted stilettos that only ever indicated pain and evil oozing up to her side…

_Something wicked this way comes…_a whisper of her old self quoted in her ears.

"Good morning, 004," the Woman, her captor, greeted cheerily with arms swinging freely around her vermilion business suit. She wore it almost in mocking of the red the girl used to wear, and the prisoner wondered what the _witch_ had done this time—if clothes made the man, then clothes in her case always made the victor. And she seemed rather victorious today.

"Or night, whichever the case may be," the Woman waved her hand in the air as though it didn't really matter anyway.

She didn't respond. There was no way that she was ever going to tell her warden that Miss B., the physical therapist, had been slipping her the date and time of day when no one was looking. That was a secret all their own.

Ebony, soulless eyes blinked slowly as the Woman examined the living experiment, black hair swept back in what was sure to be the latest style, "anyway, I'll dispense with the greetings by saying that I've brought you a gift."

What.

A gift? What was she-?

A secondary set of figures lurched into the light and the imprisoned woman tensed immediately. She should have sensed them, hulking soldiers that set off her anger like wildfire in a forest. But the aura of Evil had masked them. Much alike parasites hiding within the belly of a fearsome beast.

And within the grip of two of the 'Witch's burliest henchmen hung a slumped civilian. Unassuming and fearful and innocent, eyes not daring to lift up further than the floor, as though mourning his very existence.

"Another bystander for your living doll collection?" the imprisoned asked flatly, expression emotionless and dry. Only then did the new captive look up, and then…

Blue eyes widened at the view, glasses slipping down his nose. His mouth fell open in first horror, then anguish. And then he began to curl inside of himself, self-hatred as bitter a pill as dreams thrown into a fire. But thereafter he couldn't seem to look away, as though in penance. And she resisted the urge to turn, to hide him from view. As though in not seeing him, neither could he see her.

"Actually," the Evil One began happily, registering the exchange with a cheerful smile, "I figured that after what you did to Doctor Whale it was time for him to take some leave. Doctor Hopper will be his replacement until Whale is done healing from the wounds you so kindly bestowed upon him."

"And then…?" she prompted, body tensing at the word 'Doctor.' But even more so at the realization that this might be the last time this 'Doctor Hopper' would ever practice his craft.

"We'll see," the Woman said, almost sweetly. Then snapped her fingers. The two soldiers came to attention, gripping the doctor in their iron claws and dragging him to her glass cage. The walls two feet thick and peppered with holes for breathing, with only a small, sealed door as a gateway to her outside world. Holes which could be stoppered up the minute the Witch decided to let gas trickle in from the top, either knocking out or killing the specimen.

Then the door was opened, stale, canned air replacing only slightly more stale, canned air. And he was tossed in, thrown at her feet like the raw meat they sometimes threw her.

Instinctively she found herself at his side, a remnant of a former life as she noted absently when the Woman's gorillas withdrew. But he scrambled away, breathing heavily as his back met a solid pane of glass. He was trapped, they both were. And with her luck they probably wouldn't be parting company any time soon.

~/~/~

The creature before him was most definitely a 'she,' he'd decided. Long, elegant limbs, smooth curves and graceful cheekbones attested to that. But the claws she sported, the pointed ears, the elongated feet and _especially_ the tail all said wolf. A wolf that was eying him with curiously interested yellow eyes, hand held out in entreaty as though _he_ was the wounded animal.

"Hey there, I'm not going to hurt you."

"What about V-Whale's wounds?"

Her smile was mirthless, revealing several pearly rows of pointed teeth, "well, Whale forgot that I wasn't just an experiment, but a woman. If I was being honest then I think that _any_ woman would have reacted the same way. And you know what they say about a woman scorned," she flexed her claws and he couldn't help but swallow painfully.

Until, that is, a new emotion colored his view.

Realization.

"Did you just say, 'a woman scorned?'" he blinked rapidly, mind soaring a mile a minute, "as in…"

"Shakespeare, I think. Although pop culture has definitely covered and recovered its use," she responded. And something inside of him seemed to settle.

Education. She had an education, which meant…

"Ruby Lucas, at your service," she said, more cheerfully this time, and he watched in both fascination and shock as the claws retracted back into her skin, looking like little more than regular nails, sharpened into a point. Then he realized that the hand was being held out for a reason.

He grasped it, only half-fearfully and half with wonder, "Archibald Hopper. I-It's a pleasure."

"Is it? Really?" she asked with a wry smile, sitting back against the bunk behind her. The rough tunic stretched across her form as she did so, and he was startled at the femininity of the move. More like a young girl than an animal by any means.

Much of his panic settled down further.

"Because back home I might've believed that, but here…" she let the words drop, shrugging, "and I can't even say that you're only talking to me because of my good looks."

She made a vague motion toward her face, alterations and all, but although the comment was half-joking he could sense some truth to the move. She had been pretty, once upon a time. Was still pretty, even, if he ignored the emaciated look about her cheekbones and jawline and focused on only the humanity he found there.

And when he did…, "I think that you look lovely, Miss Lucas," he said with full honesty, meaning every word.

That stopped her, the girl's hands having been absently intent on untangling her hair. And he could have sworn that for a second her eyes turned green. Green and human and surprised, like a kicked canine who'd just been thrown a bone.

"T-thank you," she murmured, quietly, and seemed to force her hands to settle at her sides after fluttering them about her lap, as absentminded as a teenager, "I, um, I used to work in a diner, before. Well, before everything," she flicked a finger at their cramped surroundings, "part-time student, general education. I didn't really know what I wanted to do, then. Had a boyfriend, too, but…" any lightheartedness in her tone settled into low dialogue, "but, um, they took him, too. He didn't survive the tests, and neither did Graham. Only me, the waitress," she mused. And then a cracked laugh broke through the dead conversation, "and the crocodile guy, 001. But you know how that is."

The words were said in conversation, a stretch toward a past that was much lighter and happier than the present she resided in. Which just made it all the worse, "I…I'm so s-sorry," he said mournfully, shoulders dropping as the magnitude of what he had done, and whom he had hurt, hit him for the second time that day.

But Ruby was puzzled, distracted from her sorrow by his, "sorry for what? You didn't do anything."

"That's not what I meant, I…" he swallowed past his fear in view of the truth that needed to be spoken. For enough lies had already been said in an effort to forget the past, and they weren't about to help him in the future, "I-I'm afraid that I'm not just here because they need a temporary replacement for Vi-Whale. I…the things that were done to you. I'm afraid that they're my fault."

She frowned, "I'm pretty sure that you didn't stick me full of needles and tamper with my genetic code."

He grimaced, "Miss Lucas, a long time ago I once asked a question. It was for medical purposes, but then the information fell into the wrong hands. And I tried to get rid of it, but it looks like…like…"

"Like you really are to blame for all this, aren't you?" she remarked, quietly, realization coloring her odd irises, "and they're not going to let you go after all this, are they?"

He swallowed harshly, nodding, "I'm afraid so. Victor Whale was my assistant at the time. And I feel that their true purpose for me hasn't yet been revealed. And that I may, in fact, be forced into playing a part in your future troubles."

"That _does_ sound like her," the whisper was like a tombstone between them.

But that didn't last long as she reached across the gap to grasp his hand. And within his frigid, frozen fingers hers seemed alive, soft, and lovely. All the things that were human existed in the comforting grasp, the experiment soothing her fellow prisoner in their shared apology.

"I guess…we'll deal with that when the time comes, then," she said softly, "before clearing her throat and edging back, "and in the meanwhile, I don't want you to get in trouble. So you better do what you came to do."

The red-haired Doctor nodded, "right, um, what was it that I was supposed to…'do,' anyhow?"

"Weeeeell," the young woman drawled, and now he could think of her as such—not a wolf, not an scientific test result, but a young woman, "Whale was in here working on my regular checkup when he decided that it was a good idea to feel up the girl with claws. So _that's_ only half-finished."

The poor man was instantly as red as a beet, flushing in the first real show of color that she'd seen in a long while, "I would, a, I would never…ever…"

"Oh, I believe you," she said, smiling in a way that was as flirtatious as it was seemingly dangerous, eyes half-lidded and full of humor, "Doc Whale is his own kind of stupid. And besides, you don't seem the type. So as long as you keep your hands where I can see them, _'Archie,'_ we'll get along just fine," her smile became something a little more friendly and despite the glinting teeth he thought that it was almost reassuring now, in the face of what he'd been through and was about to be thrown into.

For she was a human being, just like him, and as long as they stuck together they would surely figure something out. Neither was alone anymore.

~/~/~

AN: This was kind of written with the intent of touching upon a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Gargoyles fanfiction world. As both shows/movies, in Canon, deal with people being kidnapped for the intent of scientific tampering. I hope that that point came across, I really do. :) And part of my reasoning for writing this was that I thought it would be fun to play with the idea of Ruby being a wolf in a different sense. ^^


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